The Back-up Plan Hollywood Comedy Movie 2010
Cast And Crew
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin,
Eric Christian Olsen, Danneel Harris,
Anthony Anderson... See more
Director(s): Alan Poul
Producers: Jason Blumenthal Todd Black Steve Tisch
Christine Coggins Lance Johnson David J. Bloomfield Rodney Liber
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Released: April 23, 2010
Distributor: CBS Films
Distributor(s): CBS Films
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Synopsis:"The Back-up Plan" is a comedy that explores dating, love, marriage and family "in reverse." After years of dating, Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has decided waiting for the right one is taking too long. Determined to become a mother, she commits to a plan, makes an appointment and decides to go it alone. That same day, Zoe meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin)-- a man with real possibilities. Trying to nurture a budding relationship and hide the early signs of pregnancy becomes a comedy of errors for Zoe and creates confusing signals for Stan. When Zoe nervously reveals the reason for her unpredictable behavior, Stan commits fully and says he's in. Never before has love seen a courtship where a wild night of sex involves three in a bed -- Stan, Zoe and the ever-present massive pregnancy pillow. Or, where "date night" consists of being the "focal point" at a near-stranger's water birth which does for kiddie pools what "Jaws" did for swimming in the ocean. The real pregnancy test comes when both of them realize they really don't know each other outside of hormonal chaos and birth preparations. With the nine month clock ticking, both begin to experience cold feet. Anyone can fall in love, get married and have a baby but doing it backwards in hyper-drive could be proof positive that they were made for each other.
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Movie Detail Information:
To prep for "The Back Up Plan," shed all notions of how grown-ups behave in the real world. But, you might retort, the movie's only a romantic comedy, a showcase for Jennifer Lopez and Aussie heartthrob Alex Loughlin, not some kitchen-sink drama with people like us who wrestle with hard-core dilemmas. Fair enough. But, really, how many IQ points must you drop to get off on the unfunny antics of a privileged pair of pretty Peter Pans in their Neverland playpens? This tepid, endless excursion into rom-com lowlands rides largely on Lopez's iconic cheekbones and famous derriere, as well as O'Loughlin's handsome chest, bared at every opportunity. "The Back-up Plan" marries romance-novel fluff with made-for-TV movies designed to satisfy distaff fantasies. Though salted with obligatory vulgarity, this flat-footed comedy sticks to the kind of sanitized, prepubescent sex Doris Day and Rock Hudson played at in the '60s.
Internet hotshot turned pet-shop owner Zoe (Lopez) has dated "hundreds" of men and never found The One. Her soulful little pug, its useless back legs supported in a colorfully decorated wagon, trundles after her every move. (The filmmakers find its handicapped perambulations so adorable that this canine cutie approaches co-star status.) But dog, doting gram Linda Lavin,Eve Arden-like BFF (Michaela Watkins, providing some rare laughs), and thriving business just aren't enough for this greedy singleton. Zoe yearns for a baby bump. So she hoists herself into the stirrups to get artificially inseminated, displaying the profound spiritual joy of a girl copping a pair of coveted Manolo Blahniks. (Someone said "The Back-up Plan" comes from the same planet as "Sex And The City," sans the sex!) Moments after someone's sperm has hit the spot, Zoe runs into The One, a good-looking cheese-maker/farmer who dreams of starting a "sustainable gourmet shop." (No kidding, he's blood brother to John Corbett, Carrie Bradshaw's sensitive furniture-making manly man!) Lopez and O'Loughlin, erstwhile "Moonlight" vampire, meet so cute it makes your teeth hurt, competing for the same cab in a Manhattan downpour. Then director Alan Poul ("Six Feet Under," "Big Love") scrambles to find ways to mine romance and chuckles out of falling in love with a hapless guy just after getting knocked up, and to manufacture sufficient emotional speed bumps to stretch "The Back-up Plan" from sitcom episode to movie-length. It doesn't help that the big moments in the rubber-band affair are punctuated by dispiritingly goopy love songs that leave you feeling swaddled in tofu. (Lopez's "What Is Love?" is no exception.)
Movie Review:Chick flicks. You know them when you see them, right? The lonely but gorgeous heroines, the hunky but unthreatening heroes, the life lessons dished out by fate and sardonic buddies.
"The Back-Up Plan" qualifies on all counts: Jennifer Lopez plays a beauteous single who's artificially inseminated moments before meeting Alex O'Loughlin's sensitive hunk of a goat farmer. But their story goes way, way beyond standard chick-flickiness. The film actually belongs to a special subcategory called the Egg-Producing Hen Movie. As such it should appeal to anyone who has ever been pregnant, thought about getting pregnant, known someone who's been pregnant, followed a pregnant woman's postings on Facebook and/or thumbed through a copy of "What to Expect While You're Expecting" while sucking on a milk shake.
As a member of all five groups, I laughed hysterically, but in the interest of balanced reporting, I should add that the guy parked next to me at the screening - a boyfriend who was there under duress - emitted a series of low guttural noises suggesting profound psychological anguish.
When it comes to the schmaltzier pronouncements in Kate Angelo's screenplay, you'll feel his pain. Purveyors of mainstream romantic comedy seem incapable of bringing them to a close without all the icky-sticky moments of Oprah epiphany. Otherwise, Alan Poul's feature directorial debut is an often riotous send-up of impending parenthood and its myriad transformations, putting truisms into modern dilemmas.
Zoe (Lopez) is weepy, barfy, hungry, horny. Her boyfriend, Stan (O'Loughlin), didn't know about the bun in the oven when he signed on for a little romance, so he's feeling a bit dazed. Guiding Zoe through the wilds of human gestation is her chick-flick-ordained sardonic buddy, Mona (Michaela Watkins), who has four children and claims to hate them all. Guiding Stan through the manly equivalent is his own acerbic helper, a nameless playground dad (Anthony Anderson) who plies him with juice boxes and sums up parenthood as the awful interrupted by the magical.
Lopez does a fine job mortifying herself in pursuit of physical humor, shifting her center of gravity in more ways than one. O'Loughlin, in the blander role, acts hurt or shocked or besotted where required, but the supporting players nearly steal the show. A single mother's support group and related water-birthing scene provide many such opportunities. And if Robert Klein does nothing else for the rest of his life, I will always love him for the way he shouts a single noun - four times, with zest - as Zoe's obstetrician. It's a few brief seconds of chick-flick nirvana.
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